Torpedo-gyroscope



E. A. SPERRY AND EAMEITNER.

TORPEDO GYROSCOPE.

APPLICATION FILED ocT.2s.1915.

' 1,312,084. Patented Aug. 5,1919.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

gym //v E/VTORS rHE COLUMBIA FLANlIGR-u I c0.. wAsmNu'm-N. n. c

E. A. SPERRY AND E. MEITNER.

TORPEDO GYROSCOPE.

APPLICATION FILED OCT-25, 1915..

Patented Aug. 5, 1919.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 'nm COLUMBIA PLANouRAr-M cm, WASHINGTON, D. c.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ELMER A. SPERRY AND ELEMER MEITN ER, 01 BROOKLYN, NEW YORK, ASSIGNORS. TO

THE SPERRY G YROSCOIPE COMPANY, OF BROOKLYN, NEW YORK. A CORPORATION OF INZFNT- YORK.

TORPEDO-G-YROSCOPE.

Patented Aug. 5, 1919.

Application filed October 25, 1915. Serial No. 57,815.

To all whom z'tmay concern:

Be it known that we, ELMER A. SPERRY, a citizen of the United States of America, and Dr. ELEMER MEITNER, a subject of the King of Hungary, residing at Brooklyn, New York, have invented new and useful Improvements in Torpedo-Gyroscopes, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to gyroscopio steering gear for torpedoes. The principal objects are to improve upon the type of gyroscopic apparatus which forms the subject matter of the copending application of Elmer A. Sperry for gyroscopic apparatus for torpedoes, filed August 26, 1915, Ser. No. 47,550, and to improve upon certain details of the form of spinning u device now employed.

Referring to the rawings which illustrate what I now consider to be the preferred form of our invention:

Figure 1 is an elevation, partly in section, of a gyroscopic unit.

Fig. 2 is a plan view of a plate used as a terminal for the electric wires. Line 1'1 indicates the section plane of this plate shown in Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a corresponding View of a plate used in conjunction with the aforesaid plate.

Fig. 1 is an end elevation of the gyroscopic unit on a reduced scale, the casing being omitted.

Fig. 5 is a detail of tops of the plates mentioned above.

perpendicular to the spinning axis. Ring 6 is used tosupport both gyroscopes and is rotatably mounted about a vertical axis 8, 9 in the outer frame 15. The rings 5, 5 are geared together or otherwise connected so that oscillations about axes 7 is prevented except in opposite directions. Gears 100 and 101 may be used for this purpose.

Either direct or alternating current may be used for driving the rotors, but preferably I employ three-phase alternating current for this purpose. The windings are placed entirely on the stator 10 which is mounted on shaft 4 as by means of ball bearings, 11. A difiicult problem was presented to lead in current to the gyros without causing friction or other retarding forces about the vertical or horizontal axis. If slip rings are used, friction about the vertical axis is necessarily caused, while if flexible wires are dropped from a fixed part to the gyroscopes, some force will be exerted in every position of the wires except their normal or vertical position. If the torpedo is fired upon a straight course, no difliculty is presented with the last mentioned arrangement, but if the torpedo is fired at an angle, as is now frequently done, the wires, if hung vertically when the torpedo is started, would be twisted through. a large angle after the torpedo had straightened upon its course. The result would be that a torque would be exerted about the vertical axis of the gyroscope during the greater part of the run, since the gyroscope, of course, would not turn with the torpedo but would remain fixed in space.

For overcoming the above mentioned difficulty, We suspend the leading-in Wires 12 from a part of a plate 13 which is rotatably mounted on an axis in line with the vertical axis 89 of the gyroscopic apparatus, our idea being to turn this plate through the angle that the torpedo is to traverse so that after the angle has been traversed the Wires will hang vertically. Annular ring 14, fixed to the main frame 15 which supports the gyroscopic apparatus is used to furnish a bearing for the plate 13 as indicated at 16. A spring finger 90 may be provided on frame 15 for engaging plate 13 to prevent too free rotation thereof. The wires preferably droo from plate 13 through a guiding tube 17. late 13 is provided with a plurality of spring contact studs 18 to each of w iich one of the wires 19, which are combined to form wires 12, are connected. Studs 18 are adapted to engage sockets 20 in a second plate 21 which are preferably elongated for a purpose described hereinafter. Some of said sockets are insulated from, the plate and are connected to leading-in wires 122 so that current is introduced to the gyroscopes through sockets 20, studs 18 and wires through an aperture which is preferably in the .form of a slot 25 in plate 21. To prevent relative movement between plates 21 and 13, under ordinary conditions, a plate 80 may be provided on plate 21 (Figs. 5 and 6), which has a hole or counterbore 81 for engaging over stud 24 so as to prevent said movement. Plate 80 is not secured to late 21, however, but is pressed firmly ereagainst'by a member 82 riveted or otherwise fastened to plate 21. Pins 83 on said member extend through an elongated slot 84 in plate 80 so as to limit and guide its movel ment. Spring washers 85 may be provided so that plate may slip on plate 21, if a considerable force is exerted thereon. Stop pins 86 on a fixed portion 87 of the torpedo are arranged to strike plate 80 if plate 21 is rotated by worm 23 through more than a predetermined angle, so as to prevent further movement of plate 81., thereby preventing the turning of plate 13 through a greater angle than is permitted by the construction of the gyroscopes. The apparatus is preferably so designed that the two plates 21 and 13 will turn together through all of the ordinary angles of fire, so that, if desired, the connection between them could be made rigid, but we prefer to rovide the safety or lost motion means described, or its equivalent, to prevent possible damage to the apparatus in case the plate 21 should be turned through a larger angle than usual.

The length of slots 25 and 84 are designed with reference to the maximum angle through which the torpedo is designed to be turned. For this reason also sockets 20 are elongated so that studs 18 will have sufficient play to turn without interrupting the electrical contact.

Preferably wires 12 are carried to an extension 24? on the vertical ring 6 and from thence are drooped so as to enter the motor through the spinning axis as shown. The wires are preferably drooped symmetrically from each side of frame 6 as illustrated in Flg. 4 so that no torque can possibly be exerted about the vertical axis. The entire gyroscopic unit, comprising all parts within or attached to frame 15, is readily removable from the torpedo, so that it may be stored separately and only placed in the torpedo shortly before the launching. For withdrawing the. unit, the locking bolts 52 and driving gears 36, 39 and 140 hereinafter described should of course be first withdrawn. Then, upon loosening clamp screws 91, and giving the clamp ring 92 a quarter turn so as to bring the lugs 93 thereon into reglster with the opening spaces between lugs 94 on the main frame 95, the unit may be withdrawn. To place the unit w1th1n the torpedo, the operations just described are reversed. It should be noted that, according to our invention, no electrlcal connections need be made within the torpedo but that all contacts are made automatically on thrusting the gyroscopic unit within the torpedo through studs 18 and sockets 20.

We prefer to provide each gyroscope with 75 a latitude weight 125 which is secured to frame 5. These weights are symmetrically located on opposite sides of the vertical axis 8-9 in order that no torque should be exerted about the vertical axis in case the gyroscopes are tilted at an angle to the vertical. It will readily be seen that if both weights were located on the same slde of the axis or if only one weight were employed that in launching, when the torpedo is not horizontal, a torque would be exerted about the vertical axis which would disturb the equlibrium of the gyroscopes.

For spinning the gyros either electrical means may be employed, or an auxlllary compressed air starting means may be employed similar to that now used for such purpose. As explained in the co-pendlng application mentioned above, we have considerably improved and modified this construction, however, to adapt it for the special conditions imposed by employing a plurality of electrically-driven gyroscopes. Compressed air is admitted through plpe' 30 and discharges through nozzle 31 on a turbine or impulse wheel 32 in the usual manner. Said wheel is mounted on shaft 33 which is rotatably supported in a sleeve 34 and which carries a worm 35. Also mounted on shaft 33 is a pinion 36 adapted to mesh with a gear 37 on rotor 3 of gyroscope 1. A bracket 38 secured to sleeve 34 supports a pair of gears 39, 140 which connect-gear 37 with a similar gear 40 on rotor 3 of gyroscope 2, so that the two rotors are driven in opposite directions by the same spinning motor. A worm wheel 41 meshes with worm 35 and carries a pin 42 adapted to strike a trip 43 which in the present embodiment assumes the form of a bell crank lever pivoted at 44. Said trip normally engages an extension 45 on arm 46 which is secured to shaft 47. Arm 46 is provided with a notch which engages a projection 48 on sleeve 34 so that when trip 43 is moved by pin 42 arm 46 will suddenly draw sleeve 34 to the left through the action of the strong tension spring 50. This action it will be seen will withdraw all of gears 36, 39 and 140 from engagement with the pinions on the two rotors. While the above described throw-out mechanism may be used to release also the usual locking bolts which are used to hold the gyroscopes in place during the spinning up operation,

- .chargedfrom the torpedo tube,

we prefer to employ a separate throw-out mechanism for the locking bolts. The two locking bolts, according to my invention,-

of lever 55 serves to hold the shaft 5 1 to the right, thus maintaining spring 56 under tension andi the locking bolts 52, 53 in the locked position. Catch 57 is designed to be operated upon some predetermined event,

preferably upon the torpedos being disthe end of lever 57 striking against a projection in the tube (not shown) in the well known manner.

In addition to the locking bolts, we prefer to employ an auxiliary device for the purpose of damping out any oscillations that might be caused by or exist upon the sudden release of the locking bolt. We have found by painstaking experiments that even when the driving gears are withdrawn from the gyro pinions before the release of the locking bolts, that minute oscillations are set up by the said lock, which upon the release of the lock cause serious disturbance of the gyroscope. Our damping means is shown as a plate 60 slidably mounted on the rod 61 which contains socket 52. Guiding rods 62 may be attached to the plate, the rods extending through a guide 63 on rod 61. Rods 62 may be formed of one piece of wire, so that the connecting portion 64 will form a stop adapted to limit the outward movement of the normally forces the plate outwardly and lnto engagement with some portion of the gyroscope, preferably an extension 53 on ring 5 surrounding bolt 66. A ring 67 of soft, vibration-absorbing material may be placed between plate 60 and extension 53. The plane of engagement between said parts should be parallel with axis 7, or, in other words, perpendicular to spinning axis 4, so that by no possibility can a torque be exerted about axis 7 by the withdrawal of plate 60. It will be also readily appreciated that our auxiliary locking means will quickly damp out any oscillations that may exist upon the release of lock 52, 66. The parts are so designed that stop 64L will withdraw plate 60 clear of the gyroscope so as to allow the gyroscopic apparatus three degrees of freedom during the run.

The operation of our invention is as follows :After the unit is placed within the torpedo, as described above, the initial spin may be imparted to the gyroscopes either through our air starting means or electrically, as explained in the aforesaid applicaplate. A spring 65 tion for Letters Patent. We prefer to employ the locking bolts or their equivalent, no matter which way the gyros are started, since, even when starting the gyros electrically, means should be provided to positlon them properly and to prevent wandering before their normal speed has been attained. By employing a separate throw-out mechanism for the locking bolts, we render it unnecessary to bring the gears on bracket 38 into mesh with pinions 37 and 40.

Prior to or during the spinning-up operation, the torpedo may be set for angle firing by rotating worm 23, thereby turning plate 21 through the predetermined angle. The means whereby the turning of said plate aecomplishes the result stated forms no part of the present invention and hence is not described in detail. A pair of sensitive fingers or feelers 96, 97 are carried by an extension 98 attached to plate 21, which contact with the stepped periphery 99 of a member 102 secured to the vertical ring 6, so that by turning plate 21, the fingers are shifted away from their normal position to a point where they will actuate the rudder so that the torpedo will be turned until the fingers are again brought back to their normal position. The abovedescribed turning of plate 21 will also result in the turning of plate 13 and the leading-in wires 12 through substantially the same angle (see dotted lines Fig. 4:) so that when the torpedo has traversed the said angle or, in other words, has straightened upon its course, the wires will be in their normal or vertical position. If the air starting means is used, the gears 36, 39 and 140 will be thrown out after a given number of revolutions by trip l3, and the locking bolts will be withdrawn upon the launching of the torpedo.

In accordance with the provisions of the patent statutes, we have herein described the principle of operation of our invention, together with the apparatus which we now consider to represent the best embodiment thereof, but we desire to have it understood that the apparatus shown is only illustrative and that the invention can be carried out by other means. Also, while it is designed to use the various features and elements in the combination and relations described, some of these may be altered and others omitted without interfering with the more general results outlined, and the invention extends to such use.

Having described our invention, what we claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. In a torpedo, adapted for angle firing, an electrically driven gyroscope p-ivotally mounted about a vertical axis, a rotatably mounted suspension element, a wire suspended from said element and connected with the gyroscope, and means whereby said element may be initially turned so that said wire will hang substantially vertically when the torpedo straightens upon its course.

2. In a torpedo adapted for angle firing, an'electrica'lly driven gyroscope, a wire support, flexible wires connecting said support and said gyroscope and means whereby said support may be set so as to bring the wires in their normal or natural position after said angle has been traversed.

3. In a torpedo, a detachable, electrically driven gyroscope, and electrical contacts on said gyroscope and within the torpedo adapts to complete automatically a circuit within the torpedo on placing the gyroscope within the torpedo.

4. In a torpedo, an electrically driven gyroscope, comprising an outer gimbal ring pivotally mounted about a vertical axis and leading in wires drooped from a relatively stationary part to said gimbal ring.

5. In a torpedo, an electrically driven gyroscope, com-prising an outer gimbal ring pivotally mounted about a vertical axis and leading-in Wires drooped from a relatively stationary part to said gimbal ring and from thence within thegyro proper through the spinning axls.

' 6. Ina torpedo, an electrically driven gyroscope, comprising an outer gimbal ring pivotally mounted about a vertical axis, a

rotatable support and leading in wires drooped from said support to said gimbal ring whereby said support may be set so that the wires will droop substantially vertically from it after said angle has been traversed.

7. In a torpedo, gyroscopic apparatus comprising a pair of rotors, bearing frames for said rotors, a support for the frames to which the frames are independently pivoted, and an eccentric latitude weight on each frame on opposite sides of the pivotal axis of said frames.

8. In a torpedo, 'gyroscopic apparatus comprising a pair of rotors, bearing frames for said rotors, a support for the frames to which the frames are independently pivoted, said support being swiveled about a vertical axis, and an eccentric latitude Weight on each frame on opposite sides of said vertical axis.

9. In a torpedo, the combination with a pair of gyroscopes, of a spinning up mech anism therefor comprising gears on the gyroscopes, a motor, gears for interconnectmg said gyro-gears and motor and means whereby said last named gears may be withdrawn from engagement with said gyro gears.

10. In a torpedo the combination with a pair of gyroscopes, of a spinning up mechanism therefor comprising gears on the gyroscopes, a motor, gears or interconnecting said gyro-gears and motor whereby the gyroscopes are rotated in opposite directherefor, an electric contact mounted thereon and a cooperating contact mounted within the torpedo.

13. The combination with a torpedo having a rotatable member adapted to be set for angle firing, of a detachable gyroscoplc unit comprising an electro-motor gyroscope, and electrical conducting means leading through said rotatable member to the gyroscopic unit including a flexible wire and detachable contacts.

14. The combination with a torpedo having a rotatable member adapted to be set for angle firing, of a detachable gyroscoplc unit comprising an electro-motor gyroscope, an outer frame therefor, a rotatable plate mounted on said frame, contacts borne respectively by said member and plate and adapted to engage when the unit is placed within the torpedo, and a wire drooped from said plate to the gyroscope.

15. The combination with a torpedo having a rotatable member adapted to be set for angle firing, of. an electro-motor gyroscope, and electrical conducting means leading through said rotatable member to the gyroscope including a flexible wire.

16. A detachable gyroscopic unit for torpedoes comprising an outer frame, an electrically driven gyroscope pivotally mounted therein, for rotation about a vertical axis, a member also rotatably. mounted on said frame and a flexible wire connecting said member and the gyroscope.

17. The combination with a. dirigible device, of an induction electro-motor gyroscope comprising a vertical ring, a rotor bearing frame pivotally mounted therein on a horizontal axis, a stator having windings mounted therein, a rotor for said stator without the same and spinning about an axis at an angle to said other axis, and conducting elements leading into the stator along the last named axis.

18. The combination with a dirigible device, of an induction electro-motor gyroscope comprising a vertical ring, a rotor bearing frame pivotally mounted therein on a horizontal axis, a stator having windings mounted therein, a shaft for supporting saidstator windings extending across said frame at an angle to said horizontal axis, a rotor ]ournaled upon said shaft for said stator and inclosing the same, and conductmg elements attached to said vertical ring and leading from there within the stator through said shaft. 19. The combination with a torpedo havmg a rotatable member adapted to be set for angle firing, of a detachable gyroscopic unit comprising an electro-motor gyroscope, an outerframe therefor, a rotatable plate mounted on said frame, contacts borne respectlvely by said member and plate and adapted to engage when the unit is placed with n the torpedo, detachable means for causmg said p ate to turn with said member, and a wire drooped from said plate to the gyroscope.

20. In a spinning up mechanism for torpedo gyroscopes, a driving motor, a gyroscope, gears connecting said motor and said gyroscope, locking means for holding the gyroscope in a fixed position, and independent'means for disconnecting said gears and for throwing out said locking means.

21. In a spinning up mechanism for torpedo gyroscopes, a driving motor, a gyroscope, gears connecting said motor and said gyroscope, locking means for holding the gyroscope in a fixed position, means for disconnecting said gears upon a predetermined event and independent means for throwmg out said locking means upon the launching of the torpedo.

22. In a spinning up mechanism for torpedo gyroscopes, a driving motor, a gyroscope, gears connecting said motor and said gyroscope, locking means for holding the gyroscope in a fixed position, means responsive to the number of revolutions imparted to the gyroscope for disconnecting said gears and independent means for throwing out said locking means upon the launching of the torpedo.

23. The combination with a torpedo gyroscope of a locking mechanism therefor compr1s1ng a l0ck1ng bolt adapted to hold the gyro ax s in a fixed position, trip mechanism for throwing out the bolt and yielding means for maintaining the position of the gyro axis during the tripping operation.

24. In a spinning up mechanism for torpedo gyroscopes, a driving motor, a gyro scope, gears connecting said motor and said gyroscope, locking means for holding the gyroscope in a fixed position, tripping mechanism for throwing out said gears and said locking means and yielding means for maintaining the position of the gyro axis until after the gears are disengaged.

25. In a spinning up mechanism for torpedo gyroscopes, a driving motor, a gyroscope, gears connecting said motor and said gyroscope, locking means for holding the gyroscope in a fixed position, tripping mechanism for throwing out said gears and said locking means and yielding means for maintaining the position of the gyro axis until after the gears and locking means are disengaged.

26. The combination with a torpedo gyroscope, of a locking and unlocking mechanism therefor comprising a positive locking device and an auxiliary means for damping out vibrations after the release of said positive device.

27. In a torpedo, a gyroscope supported for oscillation about an axis perpendicular to its spinning axis, a releasable locking bolt for preventing oscillation about said axis and a yielding means adapted to exert preslocking said two rotatable members together.

In testimony whereof we have signed our names to this specification this twenty-third day of October, 1915.

ELMER A. SPERRY. ELEMER MEITNER.

mm of this potent-may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the "Commissioner of I'atentl.

Washington, I). 0. 

